Verrocchio, Andrea del
Verrocchio, Andrea del
(ändrĕ`ä dĕl vār-rôk`kyō), 1435–88, Florentine sculptor and painter, whose real name was Andrea di Michele di Francesco di Cioni. He was a leading figure in the early Renaissance, and his workshop was a center for the training of young artists in Florence. A virtuoso metalworker, Verrocchio was primarily concerned with the spirited rendering of movement and the elaboration of detail. Many of his paintings are lost. Of the remaining panels, his hand is evident in the Baptism of Christ (Uffizi), assisted by Leonardo da Vinci. In the Pistoia altarpiece he was aided by Lorenzo di Credi. Other attributions are Tobias and the Angel (National Gall., London), two paintings of the Madonna and Child (National Gall., London; Berlin), and a Crucifixion with Saints (Argiano). Most of Verrocchio's achievements in sculpture have survived. His earlier work includes the bold group Incredulity of St. Thomas (Orsanmichele). In 1472 he designed the tombs of Piero and Giovanni de' Medici (San Lorenzo). In the same period he created the graceful Boy with a Dolphin and a lithe portrayal of David (Bargello). He went to Venice (c.1480) to work on the equestrian monument of the condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni. Verrocchio designed a massive figure of the commander, which was not cast until after the sculptor's death. Examples of his bronze work are in the Metropolitan Museum, and there are two portrait busts of Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.Bibliography
See his complete sculptures, paintings, and drawings, ed. by G. Passavant (1969).
Verrocchio, Andrea Del
(properly Andrea di Michele Cioni). Born 1435 or 1436 in Florence; died Oct. 7, 1488, in Venice. Italian sculptor, painter, and jeweler of the early Renaissance.
Verrocchio studied under the jeweler Verrocchio (whose name he adopted), A. Baldovinetti, and possibly Antonio Rossellino. He was influenced by Desiderio da Settignano and A. Pollaiuolo. In 1467 he began executing commissions for the Medici, the rulers of Florence. Verrocchio’s creative work combined the realistic traditions of the Florentine quattrocento and the aristocratic refinement characteristic of the artists who worked at the court of the Medici during the last quarter of the 15th century. In his early work—the tomb of Giovanni and Piero de’ Medici (done in porphyry, colored marble, and bronze, 1472; Old Sacristry of the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence)—Verrocchio achieved a harmonic quality of proportion and a graceful decorativeness of the forms. His statue David (bronze, 1473-75; National Museum, Florence), distinguished for its anatomical precision, meticulous modeling, jewel-like subtlety of finish, and sharp and elegant angularity of lines, embodied a new, aristocratically refined ideal of beauty.
Verrocchio executed a number of portraits distinguished by an accurate portrayal of the subject—for example, a bust of Giuliano de’ Medici, terra-cotta, National Gallery of Art, Washington; and Portrait of a Woman, marble, c. 1475, National Museum, Florence—and works of monumental-decorative sculpture. In the group Christ and St. Thomas (bronze, 1476-83, facade of Or San Michele in Florence) the artist created an inner significance of the images, a freedom of composition, and a natural interrelationship of the figures.
Verrocchio’s central work—the equestrian statue of B. Colleoni on the plaza of SS Giovanni e Paolo in Venice (1479-88; cast in bronze, 1490)—is a vivid embodiment of Renaissance individualism. The heroicized figure of the condottiere is executed with rigorous energy and dynamic tension. The few paintings done by Verrocchio (Madonna, c. 1470, Staatliche Museen, Berlin-Dahlem, and The Baptism of Christ, post 1470, Uffizi Gallery in Florence, executed with the help of Leonardo da Vinci, for example) are distinguished by their sharp and precise drawing, as well as a sculpture-like meticulousness in the modeling of the forms. Verrocchio was the teacher of many Italian artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, Lorenzo di Credi, and Perugino.
REFERENCES
Nedoshvin, G. “Andrea Verrokkio.” Iskusstvo, 1938, no. 6.Planiscig, L. Andrea del Verrocchio. Vienna, 1941.
Passavant, G. Andrea del Verrocchio als Maler. Düsseldorf, 1959.
Busignani, A. Verrocchio. Florence, 1966.